Oil-lamp clock

The Öllampenuhr also Öluhr or time lamp called, is a glass oil lamp which is provided with markings. At the booth of the remaining oil can read the elapsed time. Oil watches are among the elementary clocks.

Function

The Öllampenuhr consists only of an oil lamp, the glass container is below a small opening through which the oil is sucked in by a wick. The height of the oil level in the reservoir is a measure of the elapsed time represents the thickness of the wick is selected such that the oil in the light from the flame is consumed as possible due to the mounted on the hours scale glass container. As fuel was dark brown rapeseed oil or blubber. Tran usually used because it clean and even burns as an oil.

Was filled evening the oil tank full and lit the lamp, so they had not only lighting but also nearly the time display during the whole night. By the fuel consumption of the light oil or Transpiegel dropped in a glass reservoir, which could be read on the scale of time. Because of the pressure of the oil level caused by a non-uniform consumption of dependency and the hour scales are usually displayed linearly on the cylindrical container, the first evening hours was much shorter than the last hour of the morning. To compensate for that got the oil tank later the shape of an inverted pear. This measure could keep the lengths of hours approximately equal.

Oil watches are watches that over other elemental watches have the advantage that you can read the time in darkness. This kind of timepiece, however, were very inaccurate.

History

About the origin of the oil watches little is known. To measure time, glass oil lamps were provided with markings from the 16th century. They were more common in Central Europe until the 16th century, but then were up to the mid-19th century popular. From then on the frame of the lamp is mostly made ​​of tin, as are attached to the oil tank hour scale.